Some foreign devotees at the just concluded  Osun-Osogbo festival have expressed belief in the sanctity of the Osun deity, saying the annual fiesta offers opportunity for worship through the sacred grove.

Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema is among the 30 nominees on the shortlist for the prestigious men's Ballon d'Or trophy, organisers France Football magazine announced on Friday.

Several hardline Iranian newspapers poured praise on Saturday on the person who attacked and seriously wounded author Salman Rushdie, whose novel “The Satanic Verses” had drawn death threats from Iran since 1989.

Firefighters from across Europe came to France's rescue on Friday to battle a massive wildfire, while fire also raged in Portugal and parts of England faced a severe drought, as successive heatwaves renewed the focus on climate change risks.

Salman Rushdie, the Indian-born novelist who spent years in hiding after Iran urged Muslims to kill him because of his writing, was stabbed in the neck and torso onstage at a lecture in New York state on Friday and airlifted to a hospital, police said.

The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has pledged to work with government and lecturers to end incessant strike in Nigeria universities.